Mumbai: Private OPDs shut today to protest assault on doctors

MUMBAI: In a show of support, many private hospitals in the city suspended their outpatient services on Monday to show solidarity with the countrywide agitation against assault on doctors. Thousands of physicians and specialists also did not provide non-emergency services for 24 hours from 6am on Monday, in response to a strike call by the Indian Medical Association. Imaging centres too will not perform routine work throughout the day.

Asian Heart Institute (AHI) in Bandra, Holy Spirit Hospital in Andheri, group of Fortis hospitals and Jupiter Hospital in Thane announced that they will keep OPDs shut on Monday. The Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA) said radiologists will not offer routine CT scans, MRIs and other imaging services unless it’s an emergency. The All India Ophthalmological Society has asked its members to withdraw non-emergency services. The Association of Medical Consultants (AMC) said all its 11,000 members will join hands with IMA to boycott routine work, in what is seen as one of the biggest pushbacks by the medical fraternity in recent times. In Thane, private practitioners at over 2,000 clinics and 300 nursing homes will be shut for the first half of Monday. Services at public hospitals will not be hit.
“The decision to participate in shutting down of non-essential services is to express our total dismay about the way healthcare workers and institutes are treated. Security is a basic right,” said Dr D K Khanna, medical director, Holy Spirit. Dr S Narayani, zonal director, Fortis Hospitals, said, “We have taken a central decision to keep all our OPDs shut on Monday. Only emergency and inpatient services will stay functional.” The hospital said it was to stand up against repeated acts of violence on doctors and caregivers. Many other hospitals are likely to join the strike.
The IMA called for a nationwide strike after the attack on two doctors in Kolkata. “The incident was the last straw. Every incident is followed by a hue and cry and then assurances. In Maharashtra, the doctor’s protection act has not had any impact on such attacks,” said Dr L Kapoor from AMC. Dr P Onkar of IRIA said that nearly 3,500 radiologists across the state, including 800-odd from Mumbai, will participate.